of the year. 2012 is an important year for north korea. they want to commemorate the birthofkimjong-un andthe death of kim jong-il. as far as they are concerned they say it was a success but we have to wait for confirmation. >> we had less than success for them in april when their similar launch actually broke apart. many said that was rather embarrassing for the administration in north korea. but this is pretty soon after that to have a successful launch. is there some concern there is another country out there helping north korea to get this technology to work? >> certainly there is that concern and there have been many reports and plenty of speculation about who might be helping north cia korea in their technology. of course it is almost impossible to get information out of north korea. it is an incredibly isolated, closed regime. the information officially we get from that country is through its state-run media. so nothing gets out of north korea unless it is choreographed through k cna, the state-run news agency and the state-run television and it is highly choreographed and m

. and we're just five days away fromwhenkimjong-il passedaway. so there's a symbolic importance for them doing this now. so this is the furthest they've gotten. so we have to keep an eye the closer they get. they have clearly made progress. >>> in other news this morning, and to capitol hill, the slow progress being made toward a fiscal compromise in this country that would avoid tax hikes for all of us come next year. president obama and house speaker john boehner spoke about the stalemate by phone last night. mr. obama has cut his demand for new revenue from tax hikes but continues to insist on higher taxes for the wealthy. boehner's counter offer was almost what republicans have been offering all along, $800 billion in tax revenues, none of them generated by higher tax rates. that stalemate is causing irritation for the senate female members. starting in january, there will be 20 of them, a new record. and they told diane sawyer if they were in charge, well, a deal would already be done. >> what i find is with all due deference to our male colleagues that women's styles tend

it this time, greg? >> reporter: all means a lot to the new youngleaderkimjong-un. itis meant to mark the first anniversary of the death of his father, kim jong-il and mark the end of the year which is supposed to show the impoverished nation is on its way to be strong and prosperous. we're seeing pongyang manage the message more than usual domestically and internationally. my contacts say this country could very well call the launch successful whatever happens. secretary of state hillary clinton is in europe this week at a meeting in nato in brussels. her message is pretty clear. it wants north korea to stop this. if this missile works, bill, the range could be over 6,000 miles. that would put whatever it is launching in the payload in the range of los angeles. bill: greg palkot, watching that out of london. six minutes past. >> this is not north korea's first attempt at this. since 1998 the country has conducted four long-range missile tests. all of them failed out over the ocean. in that time u.s. sources estimate that north korea has developed over 800 medium-range missiles. a num

a factor in this delay. i'm toldno,kimjongunis the new young leader there. he's marking the first anniversary of the death of his father kim jong-il. we think according to the experts they will go forward with this and we think that whatever happens, successor failure, it's going to be declared a success, bill. bill: thanks, greg. greg palkot will be declared a success on the inside of that country, thanks in london. martha: a lot of politics at play as greg says, that is why this rocket launch is so controversial. the u.s. and most of the world believes that north korea is working on a ballistic missile that would be capable of hitting america. the rogue nation has conducted four tests of long range missiles since 1998 all of the tests as greg was just saying have landed in the water, they all failed. as we are saying that does not mean that they have stopped trying. bill: and they will try again. also overseas, hillary clinton forced to delay a trip aimed at providing more support to the opposition in syria. clinton reportedly has a so many abstomach virus. she will take part wi

. thefounder,kimjong-sun wasborn 100 years ago that day. if they do go ahead it will, of course, cause an international row. it's really an attempt to test its missiles to see if they could reach the u.s. if the launch is successful, north korea could deliver intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the u.s. mainland within a couple of years. pyongyang will face sanctions. the test also comes at a defensive time for both south korea and japan who hold elections this month. now, the rocket is planned to be fired along the west coast of the korean peninsula towards the philippines, and there are u.s. naval vessels in the vicinity to track any potential launch. back to you, megyn. megyn: david piper, thank you. >>> is the united states about to lose its status as the world's only superpower? ambassador john bolton on a new warning for america and what it means for our security. >>> plus, a judge already infamous for sexting shirtless photos of himself has now touched off a new controversy, this time involving a woman who was appearing in his courtroom. >>> and as we monitor

while nowsincekimjong-un hastaken over. i just want to ask him has been any sign that north korea's military and security policy strategy hasn't changed since he is come on board, or reduce it as a continuation of how they act in their approaches under his predecessors? >> well, i think we're still in the wait-and-see stages. there had been, i believe you can take a look at the last number of months. there have been i think a number of signs that might lead you to believe that the new regime leadership is going to take a more, i would say rational approach to how to deal with their own economy and how they deal with their own people, and how they deal internationally. and so i think generally there's been a feeling that there might be some hope there. however, now we are approaching, once again, a potential violation of a u.n. security council resolution, and we encourage the leadership in north korea to consider what they are doing here and implications in the overall security environment on the korean peninsula, as well as destination. >> anything new? we been hearing some rumbl